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Topic

Presenter

1

Approved February minutes as presented.

Treasurer's Report: income of $150, expenses of $180, balance of $5704.06

B. Melton

C. Nyberg

2

Introductions- * 2010 member representative

Steve Hudzik* (Kenilworth)

Betty Jackson (Beverly Hills) Annual Meeting Thursday 3/11 @ 6:30, East Asheville Community Center

Debbie Applewhite* (Beverly Hills)

Grace Curry* (Grove Park/Sunset Mountain) working on new community website

Tom Rightmyer* (Crowfields)

Ann Campbell (Crowfields)

Cecil Bothwell (Five Points Neighborhood) Discussion and insights into recent appointments to the P&Z Commission, see additional comments below.

Carl Nyberg (Kenilworth)

Barber Melton* (Haw Creek)

Joe Masters Emison (Montford)- new website is up and running; Neighborhood watch is organized and patrolling the neighborhood,

Robert Zieber (Biltmore Park)- continued commercial/business/residential development in Town Centre, new stores opening and condos being sold and occupied, traffic patterns are being worked out as it is very busy on weekend evenings.

Jake Quinn (Grove Park/Sunset Mountain)

Also present: Cathy Ball & McCray Coates, COA Public Works Department; Marsha Stickford, COA Neighborhood Coordinator.

Round the Table

3

Quorum- A quorum of member organizations was established.

Robert Zieber

4

Public Works GIS Project- Cathy Ball, PE, COA Director of Public Works, presented information on a pilot program to use GIS tracking and mapping to allow more efficient identification and resolution of public works and city service issues.  COA workers that are in the field will be able to use a GPS-enabled wireless device to easily enter information about problems they encounter or to mark locations that require further services.

For example, in the case of brush/bagged leaves placed for curbside pickup, sanitation division workers will receive routing instructions at the beginning of their shift directing them to locations that require the service.  Historically, trucks have driven all streets on a route, even streets that didn’t require service, to be sure to find items placed for pickup.  Full implementation and benefits of this initiative may require a change in service delivery to a consumer driven model, where requests for brush pickup, reporting of potholes, etc. will be entered by requesting parties into a web-based program or called in for dispatch by a program that will generate work orders with efficient routing and pickup information provided to workers when they begin a shift.  Citizens or city employees would also be able to enter hazardous situations they observe, such as damage to signal lights or water leaks.  

Questions were asked concerning how this GPS-based system could be expanded and used to provide real time information on bus locations along transit routes; a program might be able to text or provide other notification to a consumer that the bus would be arriving in 5 minutes, or at an interval determined by the user.

Discussion of the limitations of the devices covered problems with battery life, requirements to protect the units from damage in work environments, and safety concerns if drivers are using the devices while in motion.  Ms. Ball advised that the units operate in a different mode than cell phones including not offering two-way communication and having limited choices for entries.  The entries are made on a (larger) touch screen.  Similar programs in other cities were studied prior to launching this pilot program.  The pilot program will allow problems to be worked out and eventually the program will be expanded as experience is gained and technology evolves.

Cathy Ball

5

Stormwater Fee Questions from CAN members:

1. Is the Asheville Assessment ERU formula for storm water fees based on a federally mandated formula?  If not, how was it derived? The stormwater program is mandated by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Phase II Stormwater Program, established by the US EPA under the Clean Water Act.  In establishing the program in Asheville, a local study was made using guidelines acceptable to the EPA, looking at land use, building types, and impervious surfaces. An “average” Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) was set at 2,442 square feet and the number of ERU’s in the city was calculated. An initial budget to begin meeting the requirements of the NPDES was determined to be 3 million dollars.  With a budget and the number of ERU’s known, a stormwater fee for one ERU was set at $28.08 a year.

2. Are some or all areas outside of city limits exempt even though they could be prime contributors to {toxic waste} in terms of run off into rivers and streams due to factories and other sources of pollutants?  The territorial jurisdiction of Asheville’s stormwater permit is within the legal boundaries of the city.  At the present time, Buncombe County does not have a stormwater utility, county residents do not pay any stormwater fee. 

3. How are the storm water fees used and accounted for?  The fees collected under this program are placed in a Stormwater Enterprise Fund and are required to be used for stormwater projects and programs, such as replacing and installing stormwater pipes, cleaning drains, and street sweeping operations (four times a year on approx. 360 miles of city streets).

Additional information is available at the eGov website, Public Works Department, Stormwater Services:  eGov Stormwater

Members asked about salt or snow melt materials placed during past storms that remain on the streets and sidewalks after the snow melts.  It was suggested that this material should be cleaned up before it washes into storm sewers or is tracked into stores, houses, cars, etc.  This issue appears to be unregulated by COA and not subject to any ordinance.  CAN might help by developing information programs or handouts to try and encourage business owners to clean up sidewalks in front of their businesses.  We also discussed seasonal problems with brush and loose leaf pickup, especially when piles of material obstruct the roadway and block drain inlets (Cecil Bothwell was invited to the April meeting to discuss sidewalk maintenance).

Cathy Ball

&

McCray Coates

6

NC Planning and Quasi-Judicial Training- On February 26, Barber Melton and Robert Zieber attended a training session on Quasi-Judicial Practices and NC Planning Law, sponsored by the Land of Sky Regional Council (LOSRC), presented by Bill Duston, AICP, Centralina Council of Governments (CCOG), Charlotte, NC. [www.centralina.org/ccogwhatiscog.htm] 

At future meetings, additional information will be presented concerning past decisions made by BOA and P&Z, with interest in understanding how we can better educate and inform member communities involved in issues brought before these Boards and Commissions.  See the bottom of these minutes for a very short summary.  Discussion followed on past problems, for example with group homes and conditional zoning. 

Copies of the two training presentations and a copy of an earlier Planning Law presentation are available at wiki.AshevilleCAN.org /Activist_Toolkit

R Zieber

B Melton

7

P&Z appointments – Members present were fortunate to hear from Cecil Bothwell, recently elected to Asheville City Council, and a participant in the selection process for two open positions on the Planning and Zoning Committee (P&Z).  Several areas of concern to Cecil are summarized below:

1. The process through which Council approved board appointments on February 23 seemed inconsistent with other appointments made during the same meeting.  Whereas in earlier votes Council nominated, seconded, discussed and voted, for P&Z Council was abruptly polled with no nominations and no discussion.  The concern is that Council failed to provide the public with any level of transparency about the reasons for their votes.

2. One person appointed to P&Z on February 23 failed to mention a significant potential conflict of interest, either in her application or during her interview.  Per Cecil, four other members of Council were unaware of this matter. While it is true that any Commission member must seek recusal from consideration of projects in which the member has an interest, and while such a conflict doesn’t proscribe appointment to the Commission, the failure of disclosure doesn’t square with our interest in accountability to citizens.

3. One Council member of the Boards and Commissions Committee stated that he was unaware of the timely application for P&Z of a highly qualified woman with a long history of civic participation in our community.  How can Council tell the public that every applicant was given consideration when at least one member of the committee which screened applicants was not aware of a serious applicant? Failure to interview a highly qualified applicant constitutes a failure of accountability to the people of this community and disrespect for the people who are willing to volunteer their time in public service.

During open discussion the following additional concerns were raised

1. That Council would select a candidate who claimed neither opinion nor expertise on issues of Planning and Zoning in her application over other candidates who claimed extraordinary expertise.  While Council should strive for a diversity of opinion and expertise on boards, four of our council members voted for a candidate who claimed no opinion or expertise on their application.  The additional failure of this candidate to disclose any opinion or expertise on planning or zoning matters during her interview (Cecil point 2 above) regarding two high profile developments in which she was involved both financially and as an advocate (Deal Motor Cars Urban Village and Merrimon Ave rezoning) is a potential source of further distrust of this recent candidate selection process.

2. That one or more council members may have considered gender balance in their decision, favoring female applicants without regard to their qualifications.  This is particularly troublesome given the female candidate (of whose application one Council member was unaware of) was highly qualified and experienced in the planning area.

Since the CAN meeting, events have transpired and additional information has been uncovered. CAN has recently created a website, wiki.AshevilleCAN.org, whose goal is to facilitate community collaboration and education related to issues affecting Asheville area neighborhoods.  Additional information on the P&Z candidate selection process can be found on this new website under the "Research and Information" menu.

wiki-P&Z information

Exec. Comm.

8

Traffic Calming Review: Traffic issues are frequently a concern in neighborhoods, vehicles failing to observe traffic regulations and speed limits present safety issues for cyclists, pedestrians, and other motorist. 

Preliminary discussions have taken place with residents in Grove Park/Sunset, Biltmore Park, and Redwood Forest.  Homeowners in Montford and Kenilworth have expressed interest but haven’t been interviewed yet. 

The group is considering using a questionnaire and neighborhood meetings to gather resident opinions and experiences with their respective projects and with traffic issues in general in Asheville.

J Quinn

R Zieber

9

CAN Goals / Action Plans: Barber Melton provided a brief summary of the exec committee meeting (Fri, March 5) and discussion of “Seeking New Leaders for 2010”, see form by that name below.   Elections are scheduled for the next meeting on April 13 (at the April meeting the Secretary and Treasury positions were filled while the others remain open for nominations)

Exec. Comm.

10

Meeting Adjourned: 9:02 pm

R Zieber